Creating a Instance Directly

Creating instances is part of the iterative process of developing a Protégé-2000 project. Before you create instances, you need to have created and organized the classes and slots that model your knowledge base structure. 

Creating instances can give you valuable information about the project structure and its applicability. As you add instances to your project, you may expose missing or redundant areas which tell you that you need to redesign some of the class/slot structure. However, as you move classes and create and delete slots, you may lose information in your instances. In addition, it is difficult to split a single instance into two or more instances. Therefore, you should not add an extensive base of instances until you believe the structure of your project is fairly stable. 

There are two ways to create an instance:

Creating an instance from the Direct Instances pane creates the instance directly in the selected class. To create a new instance from the Direct Instances pane:

  1. In the Class Pane at the Instances Tab, highlight the class where you want the instance to appear. 
  2. Click the C(reate) button, which appears as a in the instance buttons at the right of the Direct Instances pane. The new instance will appear in the Direct Instances pane. It will have a default name, such as project_INSTANCE_00001.
  3. Use the Instances Form at the right to fill in the slots for the instance. Any required fields are outlined in red.
     

Next: Creating an Instance From a Field

Instances Table of Contents